1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a shield connector.
2. Related Art
FIG. 7(A) shows a conventional shield connector which is configured in a manner that a connector housing 1 with electric conductivity (made of aluminum, for example) is provided with a fitting hole 3 in which the shield shell 2 of a partner-side connector is inserted. A shield contact 4 is inserted from the rear end opening 3A of the fitting hole 3 on the opposite side of the partner-side connector, and the rear end opening 3A is blocked or closed by an inner housing 5. Then, the shield contact 4 is held within the fitting hole 3 between the inner hosing 5 and a come-out prevention projection 7 provided on the front side with respect to the shield contact 4 in the fitting hole 3.
However, according to the shield connector configured in the aforesaid manner, when the shield shell 2 is inserted within the fitting hole 3, each of the elastic belt portions 4A of the shield contact 4 is compressed in the axial direction due to the sliding-contact resistance between the partner-side shield shell 2 and the elastic belt portion and deforms so as to shrink toward the inside. As a result, each of the elastic belt portions 4A is strongly pressed against the partner-side shield shell 2 thereby to further increase the sliding-contact resistance. Thus, the entire fitting resistance of the connector becomes large.
Further, as shown in FIG. 7(B), the shield contact 4 is configured in a manner that a plurality of elastic belt portions 22 couple between a pair of ring portions 21, 21 aligned coaxially and the center potion of each of the elastic belt portions 22 is bent toward the inside. Since the shield contact configured in this manner is formed by punching a metal plate as base material, for example, the yield of the material is bad and so the manufacturing cost is high.
The invention has been made in view of the aforesaid circumstances and an object of the invention is to provide a shield connector which can make a fitting resistance between a partner-side connector and the shield connector small.
In order to attain the aforesaid object, the shield connector according to the invention as in aspect 1 is arranged in a manner that in a shield connector which is configured in a manner that an insulative inner housing holding a terminal metal member to be coupled with a terminal metal member of a partner-side connector is accommodated within an external housing with electric conductivity, and when the partner-side connector is fitted into the shield connector, the terminal metal members of the shield connector and the partner-side connector are coupled to each other and a shield shell of the partner-side connector is coupled with the external housing, the shield connector is characterized in that
the inner housing includes a holding portion which extends toward an opening end side of the external housing and is positioned outside of the shield shell of the partner-side connector fitted into the shield connector, and further includes a shell coupling metal member which contacts with the shield shell at an inside of the holding portion and contacts with the external housing at an outside of the holding portion, and wherein the shell coupling metal member is engaged at its front end with the holding portion.
The invention according to aspect 2 is arranged, in the arrangement of aspect 1, in a manner that the holding portion is formed to have a cylindrical shape in which the shield shell is inserted, the shell coupling metal member is configured by a plurality of belt-shaped elastic pieces with same shape, and the holding portion is provided with slits for passing the belt-shaped elastic pieces from an inside of the holding portion to an outside thereof.
(The Invention of Aspect 1)
According to the configuration of aspect 1, when the partner-side shield connector is inserted within the shield connector, the shell coupling metal member provided at the holding portion of the inner housing is applied with a force toward the inner side of the external housing due to the sliding-contact resistance between the shell coupling metal member and the shield shell. In this respect, according to the invention, since the shell coupling metal member is engaged at its front end with the holding portion, the sliding-contact resistance acts as a force of pulling the shell coupling metal member. Thus, according to the invention, unlike the conventional technique, the shell coupling metal member is prevented from being compressed and extending inside, so that the fitting operation of the connectors can be performed smoothly.
(The Invention of Aspect 2)
According to the configuration of aspect 2, since the shell coupling metal member is configured by a plurality of belt-shaped elastic pieces with same shape, each of the belt-shaped elastic pieces can be formed easily from a metal plate of almost rectangular shape, so that the shell coupling metal member of the invention is quite good in yield of material as compared with the conventional shell coupling metal member. Further, since the conventional shell coupling metal member is formed integrally, plural types of the shell coupling metal members are required to be formed in accordance with the outer diameters of the shield shells that are inserted into the shell coupling metal members. In contrast, according to the shell coupling metal member of the invention, when the shell coupling metal member is configured so as to be formed by a plurality of the belt-shaped elastic pieces and engaged with the holding portions of the inner housing, a hole in which the shield shell is inserted can be formed. Thus, the shell coupling metal member can be commonly used among various kinds of shield connectors in which shield shells with different outer shapes are inserted.
Further, for example, when the partner-side connector is inserted diagonally with respect to the external housing, the belt-shaped elastic pieces may be pressed with an excessive force against the inner side surface of the holding portion of the inner housing by the tip end portion of the shield shell. In this respect, according to the invention, the holding portion is provided with slits for passing the belt-shaped elastic pieces from the inside to the outside of the holding portion. Thus, the belt-shaped elastic pieces are prevented from being scooped by the inner side surface of the holding portion and being bent excessively, and so the elastic configuration of each of the belt-shaped elastic pieces can be protected.